


BABW (Build-a-Bear Workshop) or (Bath and Body Works)

by scribblypuff



Category: Given (Anime), Given (Manga)
Genre: Build-A-Bear Workshop, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mall AU, Mutual Pining, No Angst, Sort of a Crack Fic, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, and i really mean it this time, bath and body works, cant talk right now im doing hot girl shit, jojo siwa - Freeform, no. this is a crack fic., only the worst bath and body works scents, romanticization of retail, writes a 4k mall au fic of gay musicians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:27:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29729700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scribblypuff/pseuds/scribblypuff
Summary: funniest shit ever is bath and body works having beef with build a bear workshop since they both have the same initials (babw), which causes shipments to occasionally be delivered to the wrong store*bath and body works employee voice* well this sure as shit ain't soap*build a bear workshop employee voice* this is fucking soap(inspired by a tumblr post)
Relationships: Kaji Akihiko/Nakayama Haruki, Kashima Hiiragi/Yagi Shizusumi, Satou Mafuyu/Uenoyama Ritsuka
Comments: 15
Kudos: 61





	BABW (Build-a-Bear Workshop) or (Bath and Body Works)

**Author's Note:**

> The mall in my hometown does actually have both a Build-a-Bear and a Bath and Body Works.

It's happened again.

Ritsuka opens the box addressed to BABW to find, not the shipment of Jojo Siwa-themed bear clothes, but the strong scent of pumpkin spice.

“This is fucking soap.” Ritsuka looked up to stop the courier, but the man had already taken his hand-truck full of packages to the next shop in the mall.

Of fucking course. 

Akihiko walks in from the backroom to see Ritsuka kneeled by the box full of ‘Pumpkin Pecan Waffles’ body wash.

He smirks, “Ah, it happened again.”

Ritsuka gets up from the tiled floor and adjusts his blue _Build-A-Bear Workshop_ apron, “This is the third time this month! Seriously, there are so many other ways to abbreviate _Bath and Body Works_! They could be BBW and we would never have this problem again!”

Akihiko bursts into laughter, “You- haha fuck ohmygod- Do you-” Akihiko is unable to finish his sentence as he sinks to the floor in a fit of giggles.

“What? What’s wrong with BBW?” Just as Ritsuka questions Akihiko, Haruki walks out of the staff room.

“Uecchi, you can go to _Hot Topic_ or _Spencer’s_ if you’re gonna use that kind of language.” Haruki reprimands Ritsuka.

“Wait, what does it mean though?!” Ritsuka asks as Akihiko continues to die of laughter and Haruki lets out a sigh of exasperation.

“Anyways,” Haruki quickly changes the subject, “Where is the Jojo Siwa shipment? There’s a birthday party for eight-year-old twin girls first thing this morning so we’re gonna need it.”

Akihiko chimes in from his place on the floor, “It happened again.”

Haruki lets out another sigh of exasperation, “Again?” he turns to Ritsuka, “Uenoyama, could you go to _Bath and Body Works_ and get our shipment? It’s about twenty til’ opening so you’ve gotta be fast.”

“Why does it have to be me? Why not Akihiko?” Ritsuka points to the man who has stopped laughing but remained laying on the ground.

“Aw, come on _Rikka,_ ” Ritsuka cringes at Akihiko’s use of the nickname on his nametag, “have some pity for us old men. I couldn’t possibly deliver these soaps and be back in twenty minutes!”

Ritsuka raises an unimpressed eyebrow, “You can bench-press Haruki, a box of soaps is nothing to you.”

“Hey, I bench-press Haruki out of necessity.”

“Can we _please_ stop talking about bench-pressing me?” Haruki interrupts their banter with a tomato-red blush on his face, “I need to file our events for today and Akihiko needs to organize the inventory so you’re the only one that’s free to do this, Uenoyama.”

Ritsuka grumbles but nonetheless picks up the box of soaps, “You guys better not be making out when I get back.”

Haruki’s face gets even redder as he sputters to defend himself. Meanwhile, Akihiko props himself up on the floor and gives Ritsuka a sly look, “Now when have we _ever_ done that?”

Ritsuka huffs out a dry laugh before leaving the shop with the box of soaps in his arms.

.

.

.

“Haruki, wanna make out in the supply closet?”

“AKIHIKO!”

* * *

Mafuyu quite liked his job. It was nice being surrounded by the scent of flowers, fruits, and vanilla all day and the job wasn’t especially taxing either. 

That being said, he would probably like the job even more if Hiiragi wasn’t screaming and complaining all the time. Like right now:

“Well, this sure as shit isn’t soap!”

“Hiiragi, no swearing on the job.” Shizusumi berates Hiiragi, not looking up from the box of hand sanitizers he’s unpacking.

“Yeah? What’re you gonna do about it?” Hiiragi goads.

Shizusumi merely points to the ‘MANAGER’ title on his nametag, effectively shutting up Hiiragi.

Mafuyu leaves his own box of cherry-blossom scented lotions on the ground and walks over to Hiiragi, “Is it cotton hearts again?”

Hiiragi frowns and picks out a tiny, bedazzled skirt from the box, “No, it’s Jojo Siwa-themed clothes.”

The corner of Mafuyu’s mouth twitches up, “And how did you know that it’s specifically Jojo Siwa-themed?”

Hiiragi’s eyes widen and a light blush appears on his face. He digs around the box frantically before pulling out a shirt with the Jojo Siwa logo on it, “Here, see! This shirt says ‘Jojo Siwa’”

Mafuyu’s mouth is now in a small, but shit-eating, grin, “Hiiragi, that shirt was at the bottom of the box.” 

“Hey! I brought your soaps!” The sound of a familiar _Build-A-Bear Workshop_ employee’s voice interrupted Hiiragi’s frenzied ramblings.

“Uenoyama-kun…” Mafuyu whispers under his breath, trying to hide his delight from Hiiragi.

Hiiragi immediately took the opportunity to shift accusations onto someone else, “Hey, Uenoyama! Do you know what’s in this box?”

Ritsuka glanced at the opened box in suspicion, “Uh, yeah? It’s the Jojo Siwa bear clothes, right?”

“HA!” Hiiragi exclaimed triumphantly, “He didn’t even have to _look_ at the clothes to tell that they were Jojo Siwa-themed! Who’s the fanboy now?”

Ritsuka brushed past Hiiragi to put the displaced clothes back in the box and places the box of soaps next to Mafuyu, “I know what’s in the box because I placed the fucking order, dumbass.”

Mafuyu cuts in from beside Ritsuka, “Also, I never called you a fanboy, you did that to yourself.”

“YOU-” Hiiragi’s rage seems to reach its limit when Shizusumi decides to step in, both figuratively and physically.

“Hiiragi, help me take inventory in the back” The taller boy takes a fervently cussing Hiiragi by the shoulders and drags him to the backroom, “Mafuyu, stock the shelves with the ‘Pumpkin Pecan Waffles’ body wash before opening.”

And then they’re gone and Mafuyu and Ritsuka are left alone in the store full of soap and perfume.

Mafuyu likes his job. But he especially likes it when the orders for _Build-A-Bear Workshop_ and _Bath and Body Works_ get mixed up because that means he gets to see-

“So why are you selling pumpkin spice scented body wash in the middle of February anyways?”

The sound of Ritsuka’s voice brought Mafuyu back to reality, he had inadvertently been staring at the other boy for the past few minutes.

“It's ‘Pumpkin Pecan Waffles’”

“Is there a difference?” Ritsuka asks, holding up a bottle of the soap.

Mafuyu shrugs his shoulders, “I don’t know.” He takes the bottle of soap from Ritsuka’s hand, intentionally brushing his fingers on the inside of Ritsuka’s wrist.

Ritsuka’s face lights up in a bright red blush at the chaste contact and he quickly pulls his hand away, “Well-! Uh-! I should- I should get these bear clothes back to the workshop!”

Ritsuka picks up the box with more fervor than necessary and promptly spills its contents all over the floor of the _Bath and Body Works_. 

“Shit.” 

* * *

Ritsuka stared at the bear clothes printed with various iterations of ‘Jojo Siwa’ scattered all over the floor of _Bath and Body Works_ , then he stared at the clock on the wall. Five more minutes and he would be crushing the hearts of at least two dozen eight-year-old girls who were depending on him to provide them with the Jojo Siwa-themed party of their dreams.

Who is he kidding, eight-year-old girls are fierce. Ritsuka is going to be the one getting his heart crushed.

He knew this would happen. He really did. It’s just something about this store (or maybe a certain employee in this store) that makes him lose all sensibility. Last week, he tripped at the entrance of the shop, scraped his knee, got blood all over his khakis, and had to borrow a pair of floral pants from Haruki (Akihiko’s khakis wouldn’t fit) all because Mafuyu had waved to him from the cash register. And the week before that, he brought back the same box he was sent to return because he started talking to Mafuyu and completely forgot why he came to the store on the other side of the mall in the first place.

Though, staring at the bedazzled skirts that littered the wooden floor, Ritsuka thought, _fuck, I’ve really done it this time._ The clothes couldn’t just all fall on the floor in a pile either, now could they? They were small and lightweight and the floor was beautifully waxed (thanks to Shizusumi) so the small garments went everywhere.

Ritsuka fell to his knees and started picking up the clothes and putting them back in the box he dropped, all the while, profusely apologizing to anyone who was listening. He was definitely going to get an earful from Haruki about punctuality and being careful with the merchandise, but it was better to be late than to let the other two men suffer at the hands of a room full of little girls.

Ritsuka reaches for a tiny jean jacket, only to come into contact with cool, soft skin instead.

Apparently not having learned his lesson, Ritsuka flails his hand back in surprise, “Ah! Mafuyu?”

Mafuyu was also on the ground, throwing various pieces of fabric into the large box, “It’ll go faster if I help, right?”

Ritsuka fervidly shakes his head, “No! Really! This is _my_ mess that _I_ made in _your_ store! You don’t have to help me clean up!”

Mafuyu gives Ritsuka a small smile and presses a tiny, rainbow-print t-shirt into his hand, “Uenoyama-kun, it’s _ok._ Just buy me lunch sometime and we’ll be even.”

Ritsuka starts sputtering nonsensically, “You! Me-? Lunch- I- but- we-!”

Mafuyu gives him a confused look, “Is that not ok?”

Ritsuka’s eyes widened, “No! Lunch is perfect!”

Mafuyu seems unfazed by Ritsuka’s loud outburst and just smiles his soft smile again, “Ok.”

They get every piece of clothing back into the box in under three minutes and Ritsuka is running out the door of the _Bath and Body Works_ before you can say “Thank you for shopping with us!”, but not before flashing Mafuyu a sheepish smile over his shoulder and shouting, “Food court! One P.M!”

Mafuyu watches the other boy get smaller as he runs to the other side of the mall with the box and smiles to himself giddily about his date.

“That was both the saddest and most hilarious fucking thing I’ve ever seen” Hiiragi and Shizu walk out of the inventory closet together, evidently having stayed there for longer to give Mafuyu a chance to make a move.

“No one asked y- Shizu, are those bite marks on your arm?” Mafuyu points to the multiple, painful-looking, red marks on Shizusumi’s arm.

Shizusumi shoots a piercing look at Hiiragi before turning back to Mafuyu, “Be careful. He’s feral.”

“Hey! You were the one who kept putting your hand over my mouth!”

“To shut you up.” Shizusumi walks back to the register to finish his work with Hiiragi trailing right behind him, complaining all the way.

Mafuyu goes to put away the ‘Pumpkin Pecan Waffles’ body wash, deciding not to comment on how Hiiragi grabs the first aid kit on the side of the register counter before taking Shizu’s arm.

“Mafuyu! What does that stuff smell like?” Hiiragi shouts, in the middle of bandaging the bite marks.

Mafuyu opens the lid with a satisfying _click!_

He puts the container of shiny, burnt orange liquid up to his nose and takes a long whiff.

.

.

.

It smells terrible.

Mafuyu smiles, “I like it.”

* * *

_Lunch…_

_At one…_

_Together…_

_With hi-_

“UENOYAMA!” Ritsuka is snapped out of his reverie by the sharp voice of his coworker, Akihiko.

His own blue eyes meet sharp green ones, “What?”

Ritsuka receives a stupefied expression from Akihiko in response, “I didn’t know you felt so blasé about stuffed animal torture, Uesama.”

Ritsuka slowly remembers what he’s supposed to be doing and looks down at his hands to see a plush bunny exploding with stuffing from the top of its head.

He quickly takes his foot off of the pedal to pump stuffing into the plush and snaps his head to the side to look at the eight-year-old girl who looks on the verge of tears.

“Haa… Uhm… I- actually- wait, please-!” Ritsuka’s stammering becomes more panicked as the little girl’s sniveling becomes louder.

“Oh? What’s this?” A hand grabs the broken bunny plush from Ritsuka’s hands. 

Haruki, having seen the entire spectacle, decided to intervene before middle-aged white women started demanding to speak with the manager (and he really didn’t feel like handing out coupons to women while they verbally abused him). 

Haruki pulls out a needle and thread from one of the pockets on his apron and makes a few quick gestures with his hand before cutting the thread with his teeth and presenting the perfectly fixed stuffed animal to the little girl.

“There you go! All fixed! It’s like when you fall while riding your bike and get a little scratch, nothing to cry about!” Haruki placates the teary-eyed child.

The little girl gives Haruki a bright grin that’s missing about two teeth, “Thank you! You’re like a princess!”

Haruki chuckles and sends the girl back to the party group with a sparkling smile. He then turns to Ritsuka wearing the same perfect smile, however, the intention behind it seems different now, “Uenoyama, why don’t we have a talk after the party?”

A chill runs down Ritsuka’s spine. He’s done it now. Haruki was angry and there was no escaping his wrath.

Akihiko lets out a low whistle, “You’re dead, Uecchi.”

.

.

.

The three men watch with wide smiles as the group of women and little girls walk away from the store with a _Build-a-Bear Workshop_ box in each of their hands. When the group finally disappears from view, Akihiko, Haruki, and Ritsuka let their customer service smiles relax into their natural expressions of smug smirk, pleasant neutral, and resting bitch face, respectively. However, Haruki’s neutral expression quickly shifts into a disappointed eyebrow raise as he turns to Ritsuka.

“Uenoyama?” Haruki questions.

Ritsuka reluctantly meets Haruki’s eyes, “Yes…?”

“What was that?”

“What was what?”

Haruki lets out a huff, he doesn’t seem particularly mad, just very disappointed, “I’m talking about the way you were acting earlier. As if you hadn’t been working here for the past four months.”

“Or if you had the intellectual capacity of a baboon,” Akihiko adds.

Haruki pauses to give Akihiko a hard look then continues, “Ue, I thought everything was ok when you finally came back from the _Bath and Body Works_ without incident for once.” Haruki shakes his head, “I should’ve known it was too good to be true when you came back with the correct box _and_ all of your appendages.”

Ritsuka offendedly crosses his arms, “Hey, I’m not that hopeless!”

Akihiko chuckles, “You sort of are. Whenever that one employee so much as makes eye contact with you, you lose all sensibility.”

Haruki nods, “Yeah, it does always seem to do with that boy.”

“What happened this time?” Akihiko lightly punches Ritsuka on the arm, “He asked you out on a date or something?”

Haruki and Akihiko both laugh at the thought before noticing a frozen and crimson Ritsuka Uenoyama.

Akihiko’s jaw drops, “Wait, actually?!”

Ritsuka drags himself out of his dumbstruck haze, “I don’t know?! He told me to get him lunch to pay him back! Is that a date?!”

Akihiko looks at the teenager with a deadpan expression, “Oh my god. You are hopeless. Obviously, it’s a date!”

Ritsuka flounders for a response, “Well- I- I don’t even know if he’s gay!”

Haruki places a comforting hand on Ritsuka’s shoulder and replies in a gentle voice, “Ue, he works at _Bath and Body Works_.”

Akihiko nods at the obvious indication of the boy’s sexuality.

“I don’t even know if I’m gay!” Ritsuka retorts.

“Uecchi, you work at _Build-a-Bear Workshop_ ”

Ritsuka slumps over and gives in, “Ok.”

* * *

Mafuyu watches the clock intently. The second hand seems to move slower than normal as it marks the passage of yet another minute.

_12:58_

Two more minutes until his lunch break and until he can see Uenoyama-kun.

Hiiragi leans on a rare stretch of wall that is bare of any shelves holding soaps or lotions, “You look like an idiot, grinning like that.” he says to a sappily smiling Mafuyu behind the register, “You’re just getting lunch with him. What’s so great about that?”

Mafuyu sighs, looking from the clock to Hiiragi, “I guess you wouldn’t understand since you’ve never been on a date before.”

Mafuyu easily dodges the bottle of ‘Ocean Spray’ shower gel that Hiiragi throws at his head.

“Hiiragi, if you damage the merchandise, it’s coming out of your paycheck,” Shizu calls from the back room.

“Yeah, but if I hit Mafuyu it doesn’t count, right?” Hiiragi snickers.

“Hiiragi…”

Mafuyu doesn’t stick around to hear any more of Shizusumi’s chiding tone, the clock finally reads _1:00_.

“I’m going on my lunch break. Hiiragi, cover for me.” Mafuyu informs his coworkers while he’s already halfway out the door.

Mafuyu vaguely hears the words _what if I don’t_ from Hiiragi as he leaves but he elects to ignore the childish teen.

He makes his way to the central point of the mall where the food court is located and quickly checks himself in the reflection of a store window. Mafuyu realizes that he forgot to take off the blue and checkered _Bath and Body Works_ apron before he left the store. He unties the apron and carries it folded under his arm into the food court.

Mafuyu scans the expanse of tables for a familiar head of unstyled black hair and finds his date at a table for two, lit up by the afternoon sun coming through the wall-length windows.

Ritsuka sat leaned back on the cheap mall chair with one leg crossed over the other and an elbow resting on the back of the chair. He’s languidly scrolling on his phone as if he’s completely unaware that he looks straight out of a fashion magazine right now.

Mafuyu walks up to the table and puts his folded apron next to a similarly folded, but darker blue, apron (it seems that he wasn’t the only one eager to get here).

Ritsuka is shocked by the gesture and looks up from his phone to see Mafuyu smiling over him.

“Hi, Uenoyama-kun. Were you waiting long?”

Ritsuka practically jumps to his feet to stand awkwardly in front of Mafuyu, all evidence of the nonchalant, natural model destroyed in one panicked movement.

“Mafuyu! I- uh, I didn’t see you get here!” Ritsuka reaches up to rub the back of his neck, “I’ve only been here for like, five minutes… Haruki—my, uh, manager—let me on my break a few minutes earlier so… yeah.”

Ritsuka looks away, his face hot with embarrassment. 

Mafuyu smiles at Ritsuka’s reaction, “Have you ordered anything yet?” he asks.

Ritsuka shakes his head, “I didn’t know what you’d want so I, uh, just found the table” he gestures awkwardly towards the small, round table.

Mafuyu giggles, “Ok, let's get something from there then” Mafuyu points to a random counter under a stereotypical light-up sign where two workers seem to be… wrestling?

Mafuyu slowly lowers his arm in reconsideration of his decision when Ritsuka replies, “You want a burger? Sure.”

Ritsuka walks toward the counter with the two wrestling fast-food workers, seemingly unfazed by their antics, “Itaya, stop being a dumbass and take my order.”

The boy in a headlock—Itaya, apparently—slips out of the other boy’s hold and comes to the counter, “Why am I the only dumbass? Ueki was messing around too.”

The other boy—Ueki—smacks Itaya over the head as he comes to the counter, “Because you started it.”

Itaya recovers quickly from the blow and shoots a customer service smile at Ritsuka, “Anyways, what do you wanna order, Uenoyama?”

Ritsuka grimaces, “Stop it with the smile. Get me a burger and fries and, uh…” he looks over to Mafuyu shyly, “What do you want?”

Mafuyu gives a short answer, “The same.”

Ritsuka pulls out his wallet and begins fiddling with it nervously, “You heard him. Two burgers and two fries.”

Itaya smirks knowingly, “That’ll be 8.99.”

Mafuyu pulls cash out of his wallet to pay when Ritsuka stops him with a gentle but firm hand, “What are you doing? I’m paying for lunch to thank you for earlier.” he hands his own card to Itaya to pay for the food.

Mafuyu pouts slightly, “Fine.”

“So who is this guy anyway, Uenoyama?” Itaya asks.

Ritsuka glares at Itaya, “None of your business.”

“Ooh! Ueki, look! Uenoyama’s getting sassy!”

“Shut the fuck up before _I_ shut you the fuck up” Uenoyama hisses.

Ueki appears at the counter and hands Mafuyu a paper bag of food, “Food’s ready.”

Ritsuka breaks from glaring at Itaya to grab Mafuyu’s hand and drag him away from the small burger joint, mumbling an apology to Mafuyu as he does, “Sorry about Itaya, he’s just an idiot.”

Mafuyu switches his focus from their joined hands to the words coming out of Ritsuka’s mouth, “Uenoyama-kun, you don’t need to apologize, Hiiragi is even more stupid and you have to deal with him regularly.”

Ritsuka chuckles, “I guess you’re right.”

At that moment, Ritsuka seems to notice whose hand he’s holding and goes red.

But he doesn’t let go.

He tightens his grip.

* * *

What the fuck.

_What the Fuck._

What in the ever-burning hell possessed Ritsuka to hold Mafuyu and _oh my fucking god, they’re still holding hands? Is his hand sweaty? It must be, why isn’t Mafuyu saying anything? Does he want to let go? Or maybe he doesn’t? His hand is so soft and his nails are painted the softest shade of pink and-_

“Uenoyama-kun!”

Mafuyu startles Ritsuka by waving his free hand in front of the other boy’s face. Ritsuka had been unblinkingly glaring at their joined hands for the last minute while Mafuyu had been repeatedly trying to get his attention.

“Sorry, yeah?” Ritsuka asks, attempting to ignore their interlaced fingers.

“I need my other hand to eat.”

“Sorry!” Ritsuka pulls his hand away like he was burned, “I, uh… didn’t realize?” the statement comes out as more of a question, making Mafuyu giggle.

“It’s okay. We can continue after I eat.”

Ritsuka blushes at the implication of more hand-holding in the near future and takes a large bite of his burger to hide his embarrassment (eagerness).

The actual lunch part of the lunch is uneventful enough. That is until…

“Uenoyama-kun, is something wrong?” Mafuyu asks, cocking his head to the side like a dog that may or may not have heard the mailman at the door.

“Huh? No, why do you ask?”

“It’s just, you’re staring at me.”

“Well, uh,” Ritsuka points to his own face, near his mouth, “You have something right here.”

Mafuyu swipes at his face, once, “No, the other side.” twice, “Lower.” three times, “No.”

Ritsuka stands from his chair and leans over the table, reaching out to Mafuyu with a napkin, “Just let me.”

Ritsuka brings his face closer to Mafuyu’s, gently brushing away the spot of sauce from Mafuyu’s red skin with the napkin.

_Wait, red skin?_

Ritsuka lowers his hand to see Mafuyu looking down and blushing almost as hard as he himself had been earlier. The sight, of course, brings an even stronger blush rivaling Mafuyu’s to his face. If an outsider decided to look over at the table-for-two near the wall-length windows of the food court, they would see two teenage boys wearing matching shades of red on their faces, about to combust from pining at any moment.

Mafuyu finally raises his eyes to meet Ritsuka’s, still blushing. Ritsuka cracks an awkward grin and that’s all it takes for the two to burst into laughter.

“You look like that red soap that got mixed up with the stuffing order back in December!” Ritsuka remarks, snickering.

“‘Winter Candy Apple’?! You look like those red, cotton hearts that you guys order all the time!”

“You mean the hearts that you and Hiiragi keep finding under the display shelves?”

“Yeah! How are there so many? We’ve found like 15 so far.”

“They wouldn’t be all over the place if that idiot wasn’t so reckless with the box cutter.”

“Don’t worry, Hiiragi’s lost his box cutter privileges.”

The pair spend the rest of their lunch break talking about work, school, Hiiragi, siblings, dogs, Hiiragi, music, and Hiiragi. In fact, they’re so engrossed in their conversation that they don’t even notice the time passes past their break time until Ritsuka’s phone starts ringing.

Ritsuka looks at the phone screen to see Haruki’s number and the time reading _1:35._

“Fuck!” Ritsuka scrambles to throw away his trash and grabs his blue apron, “Sorry! I gotta get back to work, I’m so late! Haruki’s gonna fucking kill me.”

Mafuyu looks at Ritsuka with the same fear of a late retail worker in his wide eyes, “It’s already 1:35?” Mafuyu does the same with his trash and takes the other apron from the table.

The two begin to go their separate ways when Mafuyu suddenly grabs Ritsuka’s arm, “Uenoyama-kun, give me your phone.”

Ritsuka automatically obeys and places his unlocked phone in Mafuyu’s upturned palm, “Wait, why? What are you doing?”

Mafuyu hands back the phone after tapping on the screen a few times, “Here, you have my number now. Text me when you get off work.” Mafuyu grabs Ritsuka’s free hand, squeezes once before letting go, and then runs off to the _Bath and Body Works_ on the other side of the mall.

Ritsuka stands in front of the food court, staring at the other boy’s retreating figure, when the ringtone of his phone startles him, yet again.

This time he picks up the phone to hear Haruki’s disappointed tone, “Uenoyama…”

“I know, I know, I’m on my way.” Ritsuka cuts off Haruki as he simultaneously jogs to _Build-a-Bear Workshop_ and ties the apron around his waist while holding the phone between his ear and shoulder.

“Well, you should’ve been on your way five minutes ago. You’ve been working here for four months, you should-” Haruki is interrupted by a deep voice in the background.

“Give him a break Haru, our little Uecchi just had his first date.”

“Don’t talk like you’re my dad.”

Ritsuka hears a dramatic gasp in the background followed by an equally dramatic groan.

“Now look, you’ve upset your father, Ue...” Haruki says with laughter in his voice.

Ritsuka groans, “Ugh, not you too, Haruki.” Ritsuka arrives at the doors of _Build-a-Bear Workshop_ in time to see Haruki and Akihiko acting out a scene straight from a period drama. He hangs up the call and walks into the store.

Haruki and Akihiko look up from their dramatic-death-scene-reenactment in the middle of the _Build-a-Bear Workshop_ at the sound of Ritsuka’s footsteps and immediately freeze.

Haruki takes a breath and begins to say something before Akihiko stops him with a hand, “Don’t. This is way too good.”

Haruki sighs but gives in easily.

“What is?” Ritsuka questions.

Akihiko waves his hand, dismissing the question, “Anyways, did you get his number Uesama?”

Ritsuka blushes and grunts a grumpy answer, “What’s it to you?”

Akihiko’s mouth quirks up, “Ah! So you did! My Rikka is growing up so fast! Soon you might not even be a virgin anymore!”

Ritsuka covers his face and briskly walks to the back room, “Oh my god! Shut the fuck up!”

“Ue, the afternoon rush is about to start!”

Ritsuka walks out of the backroom and stands facing the back corner of the workshop.

.

.

.

“Is it just me or have people been staring at me weird?” Ritsuka asks Akihiko in between working the stuffing pump.

“No idea,” Akihiko says, holding back laughter.

“What is it?! Come on! Tell me! Do I have food in my hair or something?”

Haruki walks over and puts a hand on Akihiko’s shoulder, “Ok, Akihiko. I think this has gone on long enough.”

Akihiko sighs, like a kid who was told to put back a new toy in the supermarket, “Fine. Uecchi, can I get a fabric heart?”

Ritsuka gives him a confused look, “Don’t you have some in your apron?”

“Just give me one.”

“Ok, whatever.” Ritsuka reaches into the pocket of his apron and pulls out-

“This is fucking soap.”

Akihiko breaks down laughing.

“So you really didn’t know that you were wearing the wrong apron,” Haruki says.

“Of course I didn’t! Why would I?!”

“I thought it might be something like a couple’s outfit.”

“It’s a _Bath and Body Works_ apron!”

Ritsuka buries his burning face in his hands and tries to figure out how this could have happened. His apron was right there on the table! Right next to… Mafuyu’s. Oh.

Wait, that means…

“He has my apron.”

“Oh, so it is a couple’s outfit,” Akihiko remarks, having recovered from his fit.

“In any case,” Haruki starts, “it looks like you have another delivery to make.”

Ritsuka looks down at the apron and feels a stupid smile creep onto his face, “Yeah, I guess I do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment!
> 
> Follow my insta @scribblypuff - i post Given edits and would love to scream about Given with you!
> 
> Have you ever wondered what my writing process looks like? No? Here it is anyway.
> 
> -I started writing this before Jojo Siwa became a gay icon so in other words, I’m a fucking prophet.  
> -This is my way of being openly homosexual when I have to pretend to be straight in front of my roommate.  
> -I’ve reclaimed Bath and Body Works and Build-a-Bear for the gays, you’re welcome.  
> -February 15th, 2021: I found out that both B&BW and BaB have blue aprons as a part of their uniform and boy am i gonna do something about this, but it also means that I can’t call Ue the boy in the blue apron...  
> -Guys I really don’t know how to write Mafuyu…  
> -I'm smiling like an idiot help me  
> -Please I don’t know why Mafuyu is the only one using honorifics. It just doesn’t seem right any other way.  
> -Mafuyu does nothing but smile, this is to make up for the angst in my other story.  
> -Disclaimer: I have seen multiple straight men work at BaBW but I have never seen a straight guy work at B&BW.  
> -I’ve really been writing this for almost a month now.  
> -It is so difficult to write lighthearted dialogue for Mafuyu, but this is practice for my main fic anyways.  
> -How in the world did Akihiko get a job at BaB? Ugetsu is the mall manager.  
> -Feral Hiiragi is my favorite thing.  
> -I miss high school because at least I knew grammatical rules back then.  
> -Itaya and Ueki were going to be the delivery boys but this is so much better  
> -The most unrealistic thing about this fic is a mall employee getting a lunch break over 15 min, or at all for that matter.  
> -As I write Ue, I think what a virgin disaster gay and then I realize that I am also a virgin disaster gay so pot meet kettle really.  
> -I get promo emails from bath and body works now. I hope you're happy.  
> -I'm mean to Hiiragi because I love him.  
> -If i writed this for more than a month. I dont write it bc i did. No i didnt <3


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